

the brutalist
★★★★
starring: adrien brody, guy pearce, felicity jones, and joe alwyn
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REVIEWER: lyall carter
When a visionary architect and his wife flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern United States, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.
I can’t recall if I’ve ever been to a film with an intermission inbuilt into its running time. This, along with the films length, and it’s picking up of a number of awards this season, has seen what could only have been described as an initially muted response, of The Brutalist being added to the watch list of many a cinephile. The Brutalist is a sprawling American epic that earns its three and a half hour runtime with a compelling, beautiful, and terrifying testament to the immigrant experience. While it has its heavy handed moments, you will be left pondering the performances, narrative, and themes of this film for days to come.
Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Toth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost.
The Brutalist, literally and figuratively, is a tale of two very distinct parts. The first part of the film before the intermission from its narrative pace, character development, and themes is perfection. I could have easily have dwelt there for three and a half hours.
But after the intermission, the narrative appears to become slightly distracted and loses its focus somewhat. There is one particular scene, which I don’t want to describe in detail before you see it, that I found pretty heavy handed and unnecessary. Throughout the whole film there was this subtly to the main theme of immigrant exploitation being explored in the micro and macro treatment and language being used to and around them. But this just felt so unnecessary given all the great work that had already been accomplished.
Adrien Brody is a revelation here, giving his best performance since his Oscar winning performance in The Pianist. Fierce, frayed, and afraid, he perfectly embodies the inhumane and humiliating experience that many a migrant would have faced. Felicity Jones brings a depth of humanity to her role while Guy Pearce brings us one of the most slimy and vapid characters to grace the silver screen in many a year.
The Brutalist is a sprawling American epic that earns its three and a half hour runtime with a compelling, beautiful, and terrifying testament to the immigrant experience. While it has its heavy handed moments, you will be left pondering the performances, narrative, and themes of this film for days to come.